MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Botnia pulp mill closed down 48 hours because of accident

The controversial Botnia-Orion pulp mill under construction in Uruguay and which has caused an escalating conflict with neighboring Argentina will cease all activities for 48 hours following the death of a welder assistant crushed Tuesday in a labor accident.

"A platform was being mounted over a tank and part of the structure failed and collapsed. The worker of Chilean origin died instantly", said a spokesperson for Botnia, the first fatal accident since construction begun in the 1.2 billion US dollars pulp mill. The worker belonged to the staff of one of the several sub contractors that are involved in the construction of the plant which is located on the coast line of the shared river Uruguay which acts as a natural border between neighboring countries. The Uruguayan construction workers union decided this same Tuesday a 48 hours no activities period during which safety and security measures will be reviewed and a special team from the Labor and Social Security Ministry will investigate the causes of the fatal accident. The plant which belongs to Finland's Botnia is objected by Argentine residents and environmentalists living across the river Uruguay in Gualeguaychu who claim that the pulp bleaching process system is highly contaminating. The Argentine government indirectly supports the claim, arguing that Uruguay has ignored a 1975 joint management agreement of the river Uruguay by not informing or consulting Buenos Aires about the project. Argentine pickets protesting against the pulp mill have been regularly and alternatively blocking the three accesses (bridges) leading to Uruguay but this Easter week have imposed a simultaneous clamp extending until next Sunday midnight. Uruguay has bitterly protested the damage and losses caused to its economy, but to no avail since the Argentine government argue Entre Rios province residents have a right to freely express themselves (and protest) and thus refuse to dislodge them. The dispute has been taken to the International Court of The Hague and the Mercosur Disputes tribunal with not much consequence so far. A "dialogue facilitating effort" sponsored by the King of Spain will be convening representatives from both countries in Madrid later this month to try and reach an understanding. However, Uruguay has asserted all along that it does not object to dialogue, "but will not negotiate" until there's a definitive end to pickets blocking access to Uruguay. Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez who recently visited Fray Bentos where the plant in under construction, promised workers and residents there would be no relocation, "Botnia is here to stay" Since then he has repeated those words whenever asked by the press. Argentina's Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana in a Sunday interview anticipated that Argentina will be demanding a relocation of the pulp mill to reach an agreement. Buenos Aires a few months ago managed to convince a second pulp mill to be constructed by Spain's ENCE near Fray Bentos, to be relocated further south along the coast of the River Plate. To further complicate matters Botnia announced a week ago that the civil engineering works were 95% finished and that it had begun water and equipment testing. The plant is scheduled to begin production in the third quarter of this year, just a few weeks before October presidential and congressional elections in Argentina which naturally does not please the ambitious Kirchner couple, one of which will be the incumbent candidate and probable winner.